Episode 2: A Timely Demise
by Castle Season 9
Summary: When the owner of a coffee shop is found murdered, the team of the 12th Precinct must investigate a multitude of suspects. A case filled with twists and turns leads the team to race against time before a killer can escape. Meanwhile, Beckett and Castle adjust to some life-changing news. Season 9, episode 2.
1. Chapter 1

**A Timely Demise**

Season 9, Episode 2

Written by The-KLF

 _This is a work of fiction by writers with no professional connection to ABC network's Castle. Recognizable characters are the property of Andrew Marlowe and ABC. Names, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental._

* * *

 **831 3** **rd** **Avenue, Manhattan**

A shadowy figure stalked through the cloud thrown up by the flour being pumped into the cellar of Ess-A-Bagel, and it billowed in her wake as she crept along the sidewalk. A few blocks later, a raucous group of night-time revelers swarmed around her, jostling in the opposite direction to get to their destinations. The woman lifted her left arm as if checking a wristwatch, and shifted her bag on her shoulder before looking both ways on the street.

The person slipped into a shadowy alley, dodging two large, stinking garbage bins. Rats scuttled away, their nightly endeavours disturbed by the steady stride. The figure glanced over her shoulder and, with a nod, pulled a lock-picking kit from her pocket, stepping up to a dirty door obscured from the street by stacks of air-conditioning units.

The door gave way easily to skilled hands, with a click that rang like the smallest of bells through an empty kitchen, the sound bouncing off pots, pans, and clean surfaces. The person paused for a beat, then walked toward the connecting door with silent determination and, without so much as blinking, opened it.

The trespasser took in the scene: a middle-aged woman on the opposite side of the desk. Short, tight salt-and-pepper curls framed her dark skin; she was completely enveloped by cigarette smoke hanging heavy in the air, surrounded by stacks of money.

"What d'you want?"

"So much cash in here, your office looks like a green pasture." The trespasser's voice was trembling with anger. "You were mean, and petty to him every day, and then fired him for no reason with no pay! Give him the little bit of money you owe him!"

"Get outta here, I ain't givin' you anything." The woman dismissed the intruder and went back to counting the pile of bills in front of her. With hands balled into fists, the other woman began to move towards the desk.

"You old bag, them are fightin' words..."

The woman stubbed out the cigarette that had been firmly gripped between her lips, and rose from her chair. Within seconds the two were struggling around the room, disrupting every item that wasn't fixed down. The intruder got a grip on the collar of the woman's shirt and pushed her toward the wall.

The thump of the woman's body on the wall caused a heavy clock to fall straight from its precarious nail onto her head.

The intruder seized it, lifting it up before bringing it crashing back down onto the woman's head. She dragged the woman over to the desk chair, where she slumped backwards, an eerie noise emitting from her throat before silence descended.

The trespasser didn't wait long. Grabbing her bag from where it had fallen to the floor, she put her woolen gloves on and began to gather up all the cash in the room. With a final glance at the body to make sure she wouldn't be followed, the thief scrambled out back the way she came, slamming and locking the door behind her. She headed out of the alley and blended in with a crowd of college students out for the night.

* * *

A friendly grin at LT was enough to get Castle under the yellow tape at the end of an alley off East 57th Street, and he walked toward an open door halfway down the alley, behind some dirty air-conditioning units. "Good morning, Officer Bailey." He smiled at the female officer. "How are the twins?"

"They're doing great, thank you. It's good to be back at work, though," the dark-skinned cop responded with a grin.

"Oh, I remember that age… they're so cute at five months…" Castle chuckled as he shook his head. "It's good to have you back, the bullpen has missed you." He touched his palm to Bailey's elbow and began to move past her but she stopped him with a raised hand.

"Castle, just wait a moment. You need to put the clean booties over your shoes, there's a lot of debris in the crime scene that we're trying to preserve." She allowed him inside the door before she handed him a pair of bright blue shoe covers that matched her own. "Okay, I'll walk you through. Please watch your step."

"Got it," he nodded, and followed Officer Bailey with great care, trying to match where she placed her feet with his own tread. He was so busy concentrating on the corridor floor he didn't notice that she'd stopped until he almost bumped into her back.

"Oops, so sorry. Didn't want to step on anything." Her indulgent sigh was lost as Ryan caught sight of the writer.

"Hey, Castle! Don't move, it's tight in here." Bailey walked around Castle and returned to her post. Rick looked over to Ryan, standing with Lanie behind the desk of a small office. Cigarette butts, papers, pens, office detritus, and a few ten-dollar bills were strewn all over the room. Between them was the body of an African-American woman who looked to have been in her mid-to-late sixties.

"Meet Roberta Gussie, age 57, out of Jackson Heights in Queens," Esposito's voice piped up from behind him, making Castle jump. Esposito shook his head before continuing. "Nickname was 'Nana', no family that we know about yet, and she owned Boulevard Café. I've just been speaking with Penny Yang, who was hired about eight months ago as manager, but she only knew Nana professionally."

"She never hung out with her colleagues after work?" Castle asked.

"Nah, man, she seemed a bit… neurotic. Think she likes a routine."

"Speaking of routines," Ryan began, stepping over to join Esposito and Castle, "Cap' seems to be keeping to it pretty strictly since you guys came back."

"Yeah, yeah, we're being careful, y'know? Don't want to put too much pressure on her, with the extra stress and all." Castle stuck his hands in his pockets and bounced up on his toes.

"The stress of running a precinct?"

"No, th-…" Castle noticed Lanie was listening from across the room and realized he had been about to spill the beans without even thinking. "The extra bullet she took. I only got one, she got two."

"Uh huh…" Ryan didn't sound convinced, Esposito's eyes were narrowed and aimed at him like he'd grown an extra head, and Lanie looked like she either wanted to strangle him or wheedle the information out of him with a tickle fight. It was time to escape before he said anything else that he shouldn't.

"I'll meet you guys back at the precinct, you want coffee?" Castle turned and stepped on something that made a loud cracking noise. He shrieked and started to hop out of the door, only to be met by Officer Bailey who grabbed the lapels of his jacket and held him still.

"Don't. Move. Castle," she growled at him, and when he nodded she turned around and led him back out to the door, held her hand out for the bright blue booties, and told him, "Since you stepped on evidence, I want a coffee: black with no sugar."

He smiled as he gave her a small bow. "Your wish is my command."

* * *

By the time Lanie had taken the body to the morgue, and Ryan and Esposito had finished their initial canvass, Beckett had got through breakfast, thrown up, cursed the universe for inventing morning sickness, arrived at the precinct, made it through an hour-long conference call with the other precinct captains, and endured a cup of decaf coffee. Well, half a cup. She picked her mug up and stared into the cold liquid with a scrunched nose and a grimace.

"Glaring at it won't make it reheat itself, Captain." Kate looked up to find the newest officer on the Homicide floor smiling at her from the threshold of her office.

"Officer Aragon, come in," Beckett stood as she beckoned the woman in. "Welcome to the Twelfth! I hope you're enjoying your first shift?"

"Yes, Ma'am, thank you. Everyone's real friendly, I'm not getting too much ribbing for being a Transit cop," she smiled.

Beckett nodded and returned her smile, "Well, you're a homicide cop now, we look after our own. We thought you'd be a good fit here, especially after the case you worked on the subway with Detective Esposito. I'm going to assign you to Detective Younce, so if he's in and he needs something done, he's going to ask you to do it. Stuff like running financials, scrubbing video, that kind of thing, okay? Just for this week, then we can let you loose in the field after that."

"Yes, Ma'am." Beckett stood and held her hand out to Aragon, who quickly stood and shook it.

"Okay, good. See you around, Aragon. Dismissed."

Beckett looked to the door at the sound of a knock against the frame caught her attention. She grinned at Castle, a tray of coffees in his hand, who nodded to Officer Aragon as she walked out, closing the door behind him. "Hey, lover."

"Hey! As per your request by text message, I brought you a special coffee from home. What's wrong with the decaf here?"

"It's not made by you."

Castle handed her the to-go cup and accepted her brief kiss with a very self-satisfied smirk that she wished she had time to wipe off properly. "Well, I try."

"Yes, babe," she responded with a wink. "You're very trying."


	2. Chapter 2

The elevator doors had barely started to open when Esposito and Ryan strode through them, the latter with his head down in his notepad.

"I got the locations of some cameras that may have useful angles. I'm going to start making calls to get the footage."

"Okay, bro, I'll start the board." Esposito dragged a clean whiteboard to stand beside his and Ryan's desks and pulled his jacket off while he searched for dry erase markers that weren't dried out.

"Here," Beckett appeared to his left, holding a new packet of markers up to Esposito.

"Thanks, Cap'. Wanna hear about it?"

"Definitely." Castle came out of Beckett's office with a coffee each for the boys. Esposito nodded his thanks, taking a slurp before putting the mug down on the desk to begin writing.

"Nana Gussie was murdered last night between 10:00 pm and 12:00 am. Blunt force trauma to the head, we believe with a brass wall clock. Just waiting on Lanie to confirm the blood and hair that was found on the clock matches the victim." Esposito scribbled as he went along the timeline. "The Boulevard Café closes at 8:00 pm, so those two hours before the murder window are currently unaccounted for, but Ryan is pulling up cameras to see what he and Vikram can find."

Castle raised his hand to pause the stream of Esposito's report, and Esposito gestured for him to continue with a roll of his eyes. "Had the clock stopped?"

Ryan put his desk phone receiver down and joined them. "What, on a specific time?"

"Yes," Castle replied. "It may show the time of the murder."

"Huh." Ryan stepped away from his desk and flipped through his notebook. "Yeah, I wrote it down. Stopped at 10:38, though it's not a 24-hour clock, so that could just be a coincidence."

Castle shrugged, "Could be, but… I'm hopeful."

Esposito laughed as he finished marking up the board. "So, I spoke to the manager of the café this morning, Penny Yang. She was hired from the Starbucks up the block eight months ago by Nana Gussie and Desmond Olsen, partners in the business."

Ryan put a photo of the victim on the board as Esposito continued. "She told me she arrived at 6:25 this morning to open the café, the same time as she always opens. She went through her usual routine, opened the front door to enter then locked it behind her, headed through to the back to open all the staff doors and the door to the alley. She noticed the office door was slightly ajar, which was – in her words – totally not the norm. So she opened the door, found the body, and dialed 911."

"Who else works there?" Beckett asked.

Esposito pointed to the list of names on the board. "Desmond is not only the business partner, he's also the cook; then we have Fernando Thorne, a barista and waiter; and until two days ago, Jack Lopez, also a waiter, who was fired by Nana. Penny was very careful to point that out."

At Beckett's raised eyebrow he continued, "It seems that none of the staff have been paid for the last six weeks. Penny didn't know why. She wasn't too bothered about it, though; told me she had enough savings to pay rent and stuff. She didn't sound like she had much else in her life other than the job."

Beckett nodded and mouthed a silent "Oh…"

Esposito shrugged and carried on. "CSU won't be finished till after lunch, the scene was a mess, right, Castle?" Ryan laughed at Esposito's sudden switch from giving a report to the Captain, to trying to wind Castle up. "Bailey looked like she wished she could bust your ass to traffic for standing on evidence."

"You stood on evidence at the crime scene?!"

"Hey, to be fair, the whole floor was covered in bills and glass and all kinds of crap, Beckett! I only misstepped once." The panic began to disappear from his face when Beckett gave him an indulgent smile as he explained. "And I promised Bailey I'd fix her a great coffee as a thanks for giving me those flashy blue booties. I'm going to get some for Mother."

They all laughed and Castle glanced at his watch, "Ooh, baby time!" The laughter stopped and all three of them were staring at him "…to go. Time to go!" He grimaced at Beckett, "Sorry, the nickname slipped out… Won't happen again, honey, I promise."

He hustled Beckett to her office, with her glaring at him the whole time as he helped her into her coat and she grabbed her purse. They were out of the elevator and into the bullpen before either Ryan or Esposito could blink.

Vikram arrived at their desks, "That was weird." Esposito and Ryan turned as one to him, identical skeptical glares on their faces. "I mean, for a given definition of weird, such as you might describe Castle."

Ryan and Esposito looked at each other and shrugged, and Ryan began to run through the camera footage possibilities with Vikram.

* * *

"I know you're excited, babe, but you seriously need to keep a lid on it at the precinct," Kate was in full flow as she and Rick stepped through the door of the obstetrician's office. "If Lanie found out about the baby from Esposito she would make the next few months a living hell for both of us, so, please…"

"I know, Kate, I am so sorry, I just can't help myself!" Rick gave her a beseeching look and she couldn't bring herself to be mad at him anymore. Those damn puppy dog eyes.

They stopped side-by-side in front of the desk and Kate leaned into Rick's space, her shoulder pressed to his. "Okay, I forgive you." She kissed him, the lightest feather of her lips to his and he pressed his palm to her lower back. The sound of someone clearing their throat broke their bubble and Kate turned to the receptionist with a blush on her cheeks.

"Hi. Kate Beckett, here for Dr. Kowalewski?" The receptionist smiled at her and nodded as she looked something up on the computer.

"Okay, you can take a seat, Ms. Beckett." The receptionist handed her a clipboard with a form and pen attached. "Could you please update this with your current information?"

"Sure, thanks." Kate moved over to the seating area and sat beside Rick, absorbing herself in checking over the form, making sure her details were correct. When she was done, Rick returned it to the receptionist, and he came back with a mischievous grin on his face.

"What?" Kate enquired.

"Nothing. I'm just looking forward to seeing Dr. Kowalewski again, is all," he reined the grin back to a cheeky smile.

"I told you, you can't put her in any books. She's the _babusya_ I never had. It makes me shudder thinking that she reads books that are loosely related to my own private life."

"Come on, she loved me when I came to that appointment with you before!"

"Only because she loved teasing you."

A nurse came into the waiting room and called, "Ms. Beckett?" The nurse looked at the notes in front of her. "Oh, sorry, Mrs. Beckett?"

Kate had already stood up and grabbed Rick's hand to pull him up with her. They followed the nurse through a short corridor to one of the clinic rooms, and Rick admired the artsy photos of slices of delicious-looking pies that adorned the walls every few feet on both sides. "Why are there so many pictures of pie?" Rick asked from behind her. "Bit strange for a doctor's office…"

"Our new doctor has a thing for pie," The nurse informed him, a soft Southern twang to her voice. "Dr. Pomatter told me he used to practice in a small town in the Midwest, and there was a lady who brought him a different kind of pie every time she had an appointment."

The couple smiled and Kate turned to Rick as they entered the clinic room, "Well, I know what I'm having for lunch after this…"

"Another patient inspired by the new decor, I see!" Kate smiled and shrugged as Dr. Kowalewski followed them, bustling in the room.

"There's just something about pie, Dr. Kowalewski, you can't deny it," Rick exclaimed, already enjoying his second meeting with the Ukrainian doctor. Kate had brought him along when she wanted to talk to her OB/GYN the last time she refilled her birth control prescription, and he had told Kate afterward that he'd loved every second with the grandmotherly doctor. She'd responded by banning him from writing about her.

"Give me _varenyky_ any day," the doctor riposted. "No contest."

"Ohh, now I'm starving, dumplings would be so great right now…"

"Well, sorry Kate, but we do scan first. I hope you drank enough water, I want a good picture for you to give your father. If I had a dollar for every woman who comes for scan but not drink enough…" Dr. Kowalewski laughed, "I would donate it all to children's hospital, of course."

Kate smiled fondly as she got up onto the examination couch as directed by Dr. Kowalewski's ushering hand gestures. "Lift your shirt and undo pants please," the doctor requested. "I see from the dates you provided, you should be about nine weeks along, Kate, so let's take a look with the scan and see what we find."

The nurse hit the light switch and the doctor settled on a stool by the bed, while Kate grabbed Rick's hand. "This will be cold, but will warm up. Here we go."

Dr. Kowalewski pressed the wand of the scanner to Kate's belly and wiggled it around a few times until she found what she wanted. The screen beside them showed a bean-shaped blob that was only distinct from the rest by the virtue of being white and gray on the black background.

"Here is baby, Kate and Rick."

Kate's eyes were fixed on the screen, wide in astonishment, and she heard a gasp from beside her. Rick lifted Kate's hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. She felt a wetness on her fingers and glanced at her husband. He was crying, and it just set her off. They were both sniffling and laughing at each other, both enthralled by what was happening.

"Everything looks good, we can see heart beating on screen, here." The doctor pointed to the little moving part of the screen. "And is strong too, very good. Now let's listen for heartbeat," the doctor said to them, flicking three switches on the console. A whooshing noise filled the room and Dr. Kowalewski nodded in approval. "Sounds good too."

"Congratulations, y'all," Susan said warmly, as she pressed some buttons on the machine and printed a few copies of the screen capture.

"Ah, Susan, you take my line!" Dr. Kowalewski joked. " _Vitayemo_ , Kate and Rick," she congratulated them again.

" _Spasybi_ , _Doktor_ ," Kate thanked her, as Dr. Kowalewski squeezed her free hand with a big smile.

* * *

Rick kissed Kate's cheek as he left her outside Café Orlin in the East Village. He whispered, "Love you, Mommy," in her ear, and didn't get out of the way quickly enough not to get a slap to the chest. He just laughed and gathered Kate in for a proper goodbye, and she rose onto her tiptoes, sliding her hands around his neck as he gripped her hips and lowered his lips to hers.

"Castle, put her down!" Rick nearly dropped Kate as Lanie's voice startled him. "Get outta here, it's girl time now!" Lanie stood tapping her toe on the sidewalk with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face.

"Yes, Lanie. Sorry, Lanie. Bye, Lanie," he grinned. "Bye, Kate."

The women responded in tandem, "Goodbye, Writer Boy!" - "Bye, Rick."

"Now come on inside, I'm starving, girl!" Kate laughed and followed Lanie into the diner. They grabbed a table, and Lanie left her purse with Kate as she went to the restroom, calling, "I'll have whatever you have," over her shoulder.

A server came to the table and took their order of two grilled halloumi salads with a sweet chili dressing and glasses of water. Kate waited for her to disappear to the kitchen before she pulled the envelope of her scan pictures from her own purse and placed a copy on Lanie's side of the table. She put the envelope back and sat on her hands to calm her nervous excitement.

"Okay, what's going on that we needed to have lunch today when I have a cold one waiting for me on the sla-…" Lanie stopped mid-flow as she sat and looked at the picture on her place setting. "Oh my God!" Kate couldn't stop the grin that illuminated her face as Lanie looked from the picture up to her and then back at the picture again.

"Is this… is this what I think it is?" Lanie stood and moved over to give Kate a hug.

"Yep. Congratulations, Aunt Lanie." Kate stood, too, and the two friends embraced.

"Aah!" Lanie squealed, "I'm so happy for you!" Kate laughed and they sat down again. "Come on, tell me everything! When, what, how?"

"Lanie," Kate was still laughing, "Do I really need to explain the birds and the bees to you?" Lanie gave her a half-hearted glare as the waitress arrived with their meals.


	3. Chapter 3

Ryan walked over to Esposito's desk and asked, "When's Fernando Thorne arriving?" He passed a fresh cup of coffee to Esposito, complete with foam art. Esposito nodded his thanks before rolling his eyes at his partner.

"You're unbelievable, bro." He shook his head, "Not sure, should be soon, I gave him my card at the scene and asked him to come in this morning."

"So, in the interview, are we playing it like we don't know who else works at the café?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah. He was quiet at the scene; wanna get him talking first."

The ping of the elevator caught both men's attention. An officer entered the bullpen with a skittish man in his mid-twenties, his black hair carefully slicked back into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck. His eyes darted around the large room, as though he was taking in as many details as he could. He was wearing a vest with the logo for The Boulevard Café on the chest, his coat over his arm. The detectives stood and went to meet them at the door to the interview lounge.

"Fernando Thorne?" Ryan asked, and the man nodded. Ryan gestured into the interview lounge. "Please come and take a seat."

"Thanks, Miller," Esposito nodded to the officer, who shut the door behind himself.

"Mr. Thorne," Ryan began, "Thank you for coming in to the station this morning. We really appreciate it. As you know, we're investigating the murder of Roberta Gussie, your boss. Could you tell us about her?"

"Uh, sure," He shrugged. "Nana isn't an easy person to get to know at first. Oh… wasn't. Well, she wasn't, like, a people person. She basically never came out the front of the café, unless we were short on staff. When she hired Penny to be our manager, I only saw Nana, like, once or twice a week."

"Okay. Who else do you work with?" Ryan asked.

"Penny, like I said. She got hired like eight or nine months ago, I guess?"

"What's Penny like?" Esposito interjected.

"Pretty boring. Like, she wouldn't go out with me and Jack for a drink after work, ever. She seemed okay at work, though; she was fair and stuff."

"Uh huh." Ryan scribbled into his notepad. "Who's Jack?"

"Yeah, Jack Lopez?" Esposito watched Fernando as he shifted, tensing and turning away from them slightly as a blush rose to his ears. "He's Nana's nephew."

Esposito and Ryan glanced at each other and both made a note on their pads. "He was the other barista at the café, until Nana fired him, like, two days ago. We're real tight."

"How tight, Fernando?" Esposito asked, a knowing look on his face.

"Like, uh… best friends?" Esposito's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "Okay, look, if he didn't have a girlfriend, I'd have asked him out."

Ryan nodded in understanding before asking, "Do you know his girlfriend?"

"Not really, only met her a couple times but we're friends on MyFace."

"What's her name?"

"Henrietta Trevino."

"That's great, thank you. Is there anyone else who works at the café?" Ryan continued.

"Oh, yeah, Desmond. He's the cook. He's a really nice guy, always looking out for me and Jack. And his Eggs Benedict, oh my… you have to try 'em."

"How did Desmond react to the fact none of you have been paid for a few weeks?" Esposito asked.

"Oh, he's mad at Nana but he made sure me and Jack had enough to pay rent. He and Nana were divorced, y'know? Must've been weird working so close like that still."

This time, it was Ryan's eyebrows that rose, and he threw a look at Esposito, who nodded.

"Final question, Fernando," Esposito said, trying to keep the man focused. "Where were you last night between 10:00 pm and 12:00 am?"

"Uh, I was at home, why?"

"Can anyone verify that?"

"Well, I was raiding The Emerald Nightmare with my guild in World of Warcraft until after midnight, so… at least 29 of them that were there with me on voice chat, and whoever else was online."

Esposito and Ryan glanced at one another at the same time and nodded. Ryan stuck his hand out to Fernando, "Thanks again for coming in; that's all we need for now. We'll be in touch if we need to ask any more questions, and you can call us if you think of anything that might be pertinent to the case."

"Oh, okay. That's it? Man, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

Vikram knocked on the door, opening it enough to stick his head into the room, "Guys, ready for that video footage?" Ryan stood up and followed him out.

"Sure, be right there," Esposito responded and turned to Fernando to shake his hand, "Please wait here for Officer Miller to come get you and take you back down to the lobby."

* * *

In the tech room, Vikram cracked his knuckles and flexed his arms. "So, I got hold of all the cameras in the vicinity, and the most useful is this from the shop next door to the café."

He pressed play, and continued as the footage played on the large screen, "It's across the alley, but the camera points toward the café, and you can see the edge of the building, here," he pointed. The detectives nodded.

"At 10:24 pm, someone enters the alley. Note how empty their bag looks."

"Are they a male or female?" Ryan asked. "It's hard to tell."

"At this point, it's hard to say, but when they come back out of the alley at 10:46 pm…" He forwarded the tape to the right time and paused. "The bag is full, and the person turns, mixing with a group of people. However, they do look straight towards the camera."

He selected a portion of the screen and resized it big enough to see the face. "Looks like a woman," Esposito said.

"Vikram, is this the best angle?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, unfortunately. I'm already running it through facial recognition, but I'm not sure it's enough to get a match." He shrugged.

"Okay." Ryan nodded. "Keep us posted, man, thanks."

"Sure!" The detectives began to move out of the room again but were halted by Castle walking in, pizza boxes in hand.

"Is that a possible suspect?" Castle asked, going up to the screen to get a good look.

"Depends. Did you get pineapple, olives, and do-…"

"Double jalapeños, yeah Espo, I got you covered, don't worry," Castle grinned.

"Let's get these away from the expensive tech gear, please…" Vikram started trying to steer Castle out of the room.

"But I want to look!"

Vikram kept hustling him toward the break room, "You can when you don't have greasy pizzas in your hand, you big baby."

Ryan blinked at Vikram's comment, and Esposito was about to say something indignant when he was nudged by Ryan, who was pointing at Castle. The writer's face had transformed into a dopey grin before he could even begin to stop himself and Ryan and Esposito exchanged a look. As soon as they got inside the break room, they shut both doors and rounded on Castle.

"Okay, we have Zito's monstrosity, a Fiorentina for Vikram, chicken supreme – hold the onions – for Ryan, and double pepperoni for me!" He turned around and found all three of them in his personal space giving him a trio of strange looks. "What? Guys?"

Esposito cuffed Castle around the back of the head, "Bro, what the hell is up with you today?"

"Yeah, you're even more wired than usual," Ryan continued, as Castle rubbed the back of his head with a scowl on his face.

"Wired, or weird?" Vikram laughed. With those words, everyone immediately went still and turned to look at him.

Esposito broke first. "Hell no, you did not just say that. Seriously, what?"

"It doesn't work like that, man. You can't haze Castle until we're done hazing you," Ryan shook his head. "We're still hazing him, so you'd better get used to it. You've got years to go yet."

Castle busied himself with his pizza, hiding his smile with a large bite. "Anyway," he spoke around his mouthful, "You had anyone come in for questioning yet?"

"Yep, the barista that wasn't fired has been in already, we've got an all-points up for the barista that was fired who it turns out is the victim's nephew, and the cook is due in about twenty."

"Cool, is he a suspect?"

"Well, yeah, turns out he and the victim were divorced, so…" Ryan wiped his chin with a napkin. "Oh, Vikram, can you do a print-out of the person from the camera footage? We'll want to show him just in case he can ID them."

Vikram nodded, egg yolk dripping from his pizza to his chin and onto his tie. "Yep, sure, no problem."

* * *

They had Officer Miller put Desmond Olsen into Interrogation Two while they finished what they could of their massive pizzas. "Plenty left to take home for dinner," Vikram pointed out with a cheerful smile.

"Yeah, of mine there will be. Good luck with yours, Bro, that'll be gone in the next hour," Esposito laughed as they both left the Break Room.

"Hey, Castle? Can you head into observation? Be interested to hear what you think, after."

"Okay, Ryan," he replied, intrigued.

Castle settled in, making himself at home in the observation room. He looked around with a faint smile, memories of other interrogations and people he had shared the room with dancing through his mind. The many times he'd observed with Captain Montgomery before Beckett would let him into the interrogation room, the few times with the steely Captain Gates, and the one time – after hours – that he'd managed to get further than second base with Beckett at the precinct.

His reminiscing was interrupted by the opening of the door into the interrogation room, the boys striding in.

"Mr. Olsen, thank you for coming in to the station."

Castle took the few moments of silence to get a look at the suspect. The African-American man, clean-shaven and in his late fifties, looked relatively spry. Castle decided he looked like he was used to being on his feet for many hours while cooking. He didn't have the typical look of a diner chef; there was no massive gut or flabby arms. Castle was reminded again of Montgomery.

"Wasn't under the impression I had a choice about it."

Ryan ignored his comment and continued, "We have a few questions, shouldn't take too long. How did you know Roberta Gussie?"

"Complicated, me and Nana."

The boys waited for him to continue, but he said nothing more. Ryan tried to encourage him to open up, "In what way?"

"Divorced. And business partners."

"I see. How long were you married?"

"Nine years until the paperwork went through a couple months ago, and we dated four years before that, too. We met at this Jamaican joint in Harlem where I used to cook. She waited tables and was looking after her mama in her spare time, and we started dating. When the old lady died, Nana and I left that diner and started the Boulevard. We got married a couple years later."

Castle saw Esposito nodding and making notes before his head popped up. "Why stay in the business when you'd divorced?"

"Well… look, she wouldn't buy me out, same as I won't buy her out!" Castle could see Desmond begin to get frustrated with the situation. "I won't just leave the business. I've invested a lotta time and money into the place."

"And into the staff…" Ryan tried to lead him through the story.

"Yeah, well someone had to pay 'em. If she won't take responsibility for that, then I have to. It's my blame anyway: if I'd bought her out, she wouldn't have been hoarding cash."

"What about Jack? You've been paying him, but not the others."

Desmond's gaze shot up from his hands, "What do you know about Jack?"

"We know you were making sure he got paid a full wage, even when Fernando and Penny weren't."

Desmond grunted, "That's some of it, yeah."

"Wanna fill us in on the rest?"

Desmond shrugged. Behind the glass, Castle whispered, "Wasn't a request…"

"Jack is, uh… He's Nana's kid." Desmond blew out a deep breath. "It was a family secret in a tiny family. He was raised by Nana's mother, after Nana got pregnant by a no-good boyfriend, a drug dealer who died a few months later."

"So why didn't she like him?"

"She told me he looked just like the no-good boyfriend did, he always has done, and I don't know, maybe she got flashbacks or something. I didn't ask too hard." Castle frowned as Desmond continued. "Not everyone's cut out to be a mom."

After a few moments of silence, Ryan asked Desmond for his whereabouts at the time of the murder. He thought for a moment before he responded, "Took my new girlfriend out to dinner, went to her place and stayed over."

"We'll need her name and address, and a contact number please." Ryan jotted down the details with a nod.

"Mr. Olsen, one more thing. Do you know this person?" Esposito showed Desmond the still from the security video footage. The cook gave a shake of his head.

"Nope, not that I can I tell. Not a great photo, is it?"

"Best we got." Esposito shrugged. "Thanks for your time, you're free to go."

The detectives stood as Ryan finished the interview. "We'll be in touch if we have any further questions."

They went into observation to talk with Castle, leaving Olsen in interrogation, but the other room was empty. Ryan tapped Esposito's arm and pointed over his shoulder to the middle of the bullpen where Castle was in the middle of kissing Beckett.

Esposito groaned, "So much PDA in the precinct…"

"Come on, Javi, it's cute," Kevin grinned.

Javier grimaced and slapped his palm over his eyes. "I need to go throw up."


	4. Chapter 4

Kate slowly broke off from kissing Rick, unlooped her arms from around his neck and leveled a smirk at him. "Don't think you can get away with a greeting like that every time you're at the precinct, Castle."

"Are you sure, Captain? You didn't seem coerced into that in any way at all…" He smirked right back at her.

"Come on, you guys, knock it off," Ryan heckled as he and Esposito arrived at the Captain's door.

"Yeah," Esposito gestured, "Won't anyone think of the children?"

"I am thinking about them, all the time!" Castle grinned at them before it slid off his face when he realized what he'd said.

"Bro, what is with the fixation lately?" Ryan asked. Beckett strode past them to open her office and the men all followed her in as she unpacked her briefcase and settled down at her desk.

"You got babies on the brain, man. You're worse than Kev was when he and Jenny were trying to get pregnant." Esposito flopped into a chair.

Castle shrugged, trying to play it cool. "With Alexis properly flying the nest, maybe I'm just thinking about her more these days."

Ryan looked thoughtful. "I guess that's one thing I just don't understand about this victim." He turned to Beckett, "We just had the vic's ex-husband in interrogation, he was her business partner too, and he's still the cook at the café. He told us the waiter who got fired was the vic's son, but it was a family secret. The kid was brought up as her nephew, and we didn't find anything earlier about her having a sibling."

Beckett frowned, "Strange… dig deeper on that. Maybe the vic had a sister who died when the kid was a baby."

Beckett glanced at Castle, and he watched the trepidation that crossed her face, seeing those latent worries that she wouldn't be around for her own child briefly bubble to the surface. He moved around her desk so he could press his hand to her shoulder as he walked past.

"Desmond has a big motive here, though, guys," Castle spoke up, standing to Beckett's left. "Nana, having divorced him and probably claiming alimony, wouldn't buy him out of the business…"

Beckett picked up Castle's thread: "…which, by the sound of things, she was steadily driving into the ground…"

Castle moved to perch on the edge of her desk, leaning toward Beckett as she sat up straight and angled her desk chair toward him, "Right, and he refused to leave because he'd invested a lot of money and time into it..."

Beckett put her hand on Castle's leg, and he was grinning at her as she took the shot he'd teed up for her, "…Now she's dead, the business might default to one single owner: Desmond."

"Exactly," Castle leaned the rest of the way and gave Beckett a quick peck on the lips, sending the boys into an uproar.

"Ugh, gross!"

"Get a room!"

Beckett balled up a piece of paper from her jotting pad and threw it at Esposito. "Check his alibi, and the business legalities. And get the vic's son in for questioning already."

"You got it, Boss, APB is already on the blotter," Esposito turned and left Beckett's office, and the Captain turned to the other detective.

"Ryan, how did the footage turn out?"

Kevin sighed and shrugged, "Oh, not fantastic. We got a partial face, but nothing great. Showed it to Desmond, but he didn't recognize them."

"What about the other employees?" Castle asked.

"Penny and Fernando? I'm going to call Fernando and ask him to come in to speak with us again. Penny only gave her statement to Espo at the scene anyway, so she's already due to come in soon to sign that off, and we may as well ask her a few more questions too."

Beckett nodded with satisfaction. "Keep at it," she smiled, pulling some paperwork off the top of the pile to look through.

As soon as Ryan had closed the door, she turned a very stern face to Rick, "I need coffee, Castle. Now."

"Whatever my magnificent wife desires! I'll be right back." He leaned over her desk to kiss her serious face and pulled away with the lopsided grin that he knew made her powerless to not smile back.

Her lips quirked, "Not decaf."

"Oh. But…"

One elegant eyebrow arched into her forehead, "I'm allowed one cup a day. Make it good, Rick."

He stood up straight, snapped the lapels of his jacket in an attempt to look affronted. "As if I would ever make you a bad cup of coffee. Hmph!" He turned his nose up and left her office, managing to catch the door before it slammed. She chuckled to herself and shook her head as she began to read the file in front of her.

* * *

As Captain Beckett took the sip of the heavenly not-decaf coffee (with more latte art hearts in one cup than she'd ever seen in her life), Penny Yang was escorted into the bullpen by Officer Miller and followed into the interview lounge by Detectives Esposito and Ryan. Castle slipped in just as Ryan was closing the door, and perched on the edge of the sofa on the opposite side of the room from the other three.

After introducing his partners, Esposito greeted her, "Thank you for coming in, Ms. Yang."

"Please, call me Penny," she replied with a thin smile.

"We have a few questions to follow up on what I asked at the crime scene. Some of these may be repetitive, but I hope you don't mind. Firstly, please can you tell me where you were last night between 10:00 pm and 12:00 am?"

"Yes, I _always_ speak to my grandmother on Skype or Facetime at 10:00 pm on Sunday evenings. She lives in Beijing; they're on China Standard Time, which is twelve hours behind us. We chatted for thirty minutes, then I prepared for bed and went to sleep at 11.00pm."

"Thank you," Esposito smiled. "We have a photo here of a potential suspect, could you take a look and tell me if you recognize the person?" She nodded, and Esposito showed her the print-off from the video footage.

Penny shook her head almost instantly. "Sorry, no. I don't recognize them. Is that outside the café? I don't understand the angle at all."

"Yes, it's from the shop across the alley?"

"Oh," she said with a blank look. "I don't pay much attention to that end of the street because I always approach the café from the other end. I prefer walking that route from the subway."

Esposito glanced over his shoulder at Castle, who had cocked his head to one side and looked as if he was trying to figure the woman out.

"Can I go now? I have an appointment with my therapist." She started to wring her hands in her lap. "With going to work this morning but not actually working… it's not easy for me to cope with a sudden change to my routine."

"Okay, Penny, that's fine. We have all we need," Ryan gave her a soothing smile. "Thank you for coming to see us."

Esposito rose and offered to see her out, leaving Ryan and Castle in the interview lounge. "She's good with some details, but others not so much…" Castle frowned. "Must be difficult to live with something like that."

"Yeah, I think so. She seems to be doing okay, though." Ryan shrugged, "Shame she didn't recognize the person from the video."

"My money's on Fernando," Castle said as he left the interview room. He was heading straight for Beckett's office until he saw Officer Bailey knocking on the Captain's door. Remembering his promise of coffee, he changed course and headed to the break room, opening a fresh bag of roasted coffee grounds and working his magic with the coffee machine. By the time he arrived at Beckett's door, Bailey was about to leave.

"Officer Bailey, one black coffee, no sugar, as promised." He held the cup out to her with a cheeky grin and she almost grabbed it from him.

"Oh, thank you!" She took a quick sip and let out a contented hum before she turned to Beckett. "I see why you keep him around, Ma'am."

Beckett just laughed and pulled another file from her stack.

* * *

Ryan waved Officer Miller down as he met him at the elevator with Fernando Thorne in tow. "Thanks, Miller, owe you a beer after keeping you so busy today."

"Don't mention it, Detective," he laughed. "You got me out of having to help out with Robbery, so you don't owe me anything!"

"Hi, Fernando," Ryan greeted the young man, "Thanks for coming to the station again."

"It's no problem, I was only grinding for potion ingredients."

Ryan followed him into the interview room with a look of confusion on his face. "You mean, like Harry Potter?"

"No, dude, in World of Warcraft!" Fernando sat down with a shake of his head, laughing under his breath. "So, what's up?"

"I have a photo from video footage by the café; it's of someone we think could be the killer."

"Okay," Fernando nodded, sitting up a little straighter, his elbows on his knees. "Let's see it."

Ryan passed him the image and waited as he looked at it carefully. "I…" He frowned.

"Do you recognize them?"

"Well… I think it might be Jack's girlfriend, it looks like Henrietta."

Ryan flipped back in his notepad. "Henrietta Trevino?"

"Yeah." Fernando nodded. "That's her."

* * *

"We got an I.D.!" Ryan called as he jogged back into the bullpen. He bounced into his chair and was stopped from rolling halfway across the floor by Castle grabbing the chair arm. "Thanks, Castle. Oh, hey, can you call Miller and get him to come take Fernando to sign out? Thanks." Castle nodded and moved to perch on Detective Saunders' empty desk, picking up the handset to make the internal call.

"Who is it, bro?" Esposito asked when Ryan popped up out of his seat again and moved to the board, uncapping a pen as he went. Distracted by the commotion, Beckett stopped on her way back to her office from the bathroom to join them for an update.

"Henrietta Trevino, girlfriend of Jack Lopez." Ryan scrawled on the board with a triumphant grin. "I'm going to update the APB. Since Lopez is in the wind, she's probably with him."

"And," Castle interjected, "The bag she was carrying in the video went from looking very empty to looking very full. What if that money floating around the office was what she left behind?"

Beckett groaned. "They could be anywhere by now."

Ryan's desk telephone rang, and he moved to pick it up. "Ryan. Yep, okay… To confirm, fingerprints on the murder weapon match a juvie record for one Henrietta Trevino. Yes, that's really good, thank you for calling. Can you send the preliminary report by email, please? Thanks. Great, bye."

He opened a database, typed her name in, and her file opened on his screen. The others gathered around behind him to read it.

Beckett leaned her hand on his desk as she read aloud, "Just one charge for a B&E. That's not much."

"But it's enough," Esposito pointed out as his desk phone began to ring.

"Esposito," He answered when he picked up the receiver. "Hey, Lanie. Mhm. Okay. Yeah, CSU just called Ryan, fingerprints on the clock match the girlfriend of the waiter who we have an APB out on. Yeah, thanks, chica. See ya."

He turned around to see the other three with matching expectant looks. "Murder weapon was definitely the clock. Lanie says the first blow was probably accidental or glancing, but after that definitely deliberate."

"I wonder if-" Ryan was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. "Ryan. JFK? Yep, we're on our way. No, don't detain, just keep an eye on them. Unless they're about to board a flight. Okay, yep. Thanks!"

Ryan had spent the whole phone call trying to pull his coat on, while Esposito grabbed a few officers to bring along to the airport. Beckett and Castle grabbed their coats and her bag from her office. "Hey, can I drive?" Castle asked.

"No, Castle." Beckett chanced a look at his face as they stepped onto the elevator and chuckled. "But, I'll let you flip the switches for the lights and the siren."


	5. Chapter 5

In an office somewhere in the maze of JFK airport's Terminal One, two groups of security guards were milling around. A sense of anticipation was in the air, the eagerness to catch real criminals palpable.

"Okay, Espo, you go with the first group, Ryan the second, take a couple of uni's each, and let's see if we can find them," Beckett ordered. "Observe strict radio protocol, please; use names, not call signs. It's not a police channel - anyone could be listening in - so let's keep it professional."

The boys headed into the airport with local security, while Beckett was left to shake hands with the chief and wait for word from the others. She folded her arms and tapped her foot, and Castle started to fidget too.

"Will they be able to radio to us if they get further away?" he asked the security chief.

The man told him not to worry, as the radios had enough coverage for the entire area of the airport. Castle only grunted and shoved his hands in his pockets in response.

The walkie-talkie that was sitting on the desk crackled and all three of them turned to the sound, waiting for a voice to update them. "Ryan. Ryan to Beckett, over."

Beckett grabbed the radio and responded, "Beckett. Beckett receiving, go ahead."

"Ryan to Beckett, be advised the suspects are not landside, repeat not landside. We are heading through to airside now. Any idea on which flight they might be on? Over."

"Beckett to Ryan, stand by." Kate took her finger off the transmission button and looked over at Castle with an eyebrow raised. "Well?"

Rick frowned and looked away to a corner of the room. He started to pace a few steps one way before doubling back on himself. His hands were pulled from his pockets and shoved to his hips. He suddenly looked up at Beckett and snapped his fingers.

"Jamaica!" Beckett tilted her head and awaited the explanation. "Desmond met Nana at a Jamaican place they both worked at in Harlem. And if Jack really is Nana's son, even if he was raised as her nephew, he'd know he has Jamaican blood in him!"

The security chief looked at them both dumbfounded.

"Huh." He began typing on the keyboard of the computer terminal on the desk and brought up the flight schedule, Beckett moving around the desk to peer over his shoulder.

"Beckett. Beckett to Ryan, over."

"Ryan receiving, go ahead."

"Beckett to Ryan, be advised, the next plane to leave gate eleven, repeat gate one-one, to Kingston, Jamaica, over."

"Ryan to Beckett, copy, out."

The security chief was hustling out of the room, "Come on," he threw over his shoulder, "We can get there quicker than them, let's go."

He jumped onto a nearby golf cart and turned the key to prime the battery, waiting for Beckett to jump onto the passenger seat and pulling away just as Castle jumped onto the back seat.

"Doesn't this thing have a better siren?" Castle winced at the white noise emitter that was producing a mild, pathetic excuse for sound. No one was taking any notice of them trying to get through the clumps of people milling around.

"Nope," the chief responded.

"What about a gumball light?"

"We're only allowed orange, we're not the cops!"

"No, but I am… Castle, get up on that seat and start making noise."

Rick glanced at Kate. "Seriously?"

"Yes! Shout NYPD or something!"

Castle clambered up, holding onto the pole to which the orange gumball was attached, and cleared his throat. "NYPD! Move! Please get out of the way! NYPD coming through!"

As he took a breath he heard Beckett laughing, and he nudged her with his toe. "Don't laugh at me, come on! Help me out! Wave your badge or something!"

Now the security chief was shaking his head, trying not to laugh as he beeped the tiny horn, with Castle shouting and Beckett waving her badge. On the opposite side of the concourse, they could see Ryan and Esposito with their security and police officers trying to hustle through the security checkpoint.

Kate unhooked the walkie-talkie from her belt, "Beckett. Beckett to Ryan and Esposito. Follow us guys, we'll clear through the crowds. We're only capable of doing eleven miles per hour flat out, you'll catch us up. Out."

By Gate Seven, the crowds had thinned considerably and the two groups were almost caught up with the golf cart. Castle had stopped shouting and had dropped back into the seat, out of breath. Esposito jumped on and knelt on the back seat facing forwards, his eyes skimming across the terminal.

"I got eyes on Lopez, at our one o'clock," he murmured. Beckett nodded, tracking the area and finding the suspect as well.

"Where's the girlfriend?" she asked.

Castle, still facing backward on the golf cart, nudged Esposito with his hand, "Henrietta, ten o'clock." Esposito looked to his ten but couldn't see her, so he glanced at Castle and looked in the direction the writer was staring.

"Idiot, that's my four. Ryan!" His urgent hiss carried to his partner, who peeled off with his group of security officers and made straight for Henrietta, swiftly detaining her.

Esposito jumped off the golf cart and made a grab for Jack, reading him his rights as he cuffed him.

"Hey," Jack protested, "We're going to miss our flight."

Esposito screwed up his face in disgust. "That's all you've got to say?" He shook his head, letting out a heavy sigh. "In that case, like I said, you've got the right to remain silent."

* * *

Having marched their collars through the whole length of the terminal, Ryan and Esposito handed the suspects off to the uniformed officers. Heads ducked into separate units, the officers whisked the pair off to the Precinct for booking. "Nicely done, guys," Beckett smiled.

"Thanks, Cap'," Ryan grinned.

Esposito glanced at his watch, "Oh, hey, it's late, almost 7:00 pm. You should get home, Cap'." He gave her a sickly sweet smile and Beckett narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yep, you're on a strict routine, Beckett, you're already going to be late home…" Ryan used his best 'Dad Voice', and he and Esposito both looked expectantly at Castle.

"Don't argue," Castle declared. "Let's go, honey!" Kate glared at her team but didn't stop her husband from shepherding her into her car, giving the boys a thumbs up as he rounded the vehicle and clambering into the passenger side as the engine roared into life.

As Beckett drove away, the boys started to bicker over how they should go about interrogating the suspects. "We know it wasn't the guy, Ryan, so it's kinda pointless speaking with him first."

"But because we know that, it'll be a short interview, and then we'll be alibi checking anyway."

"But we can let him stew…" They arrived at their vehicle and stood on opposite sides, talking beside the hood.

"No man, that's pointless. Unless he was aiding and abetting, he probably barely knows anything. We should be able to pin him with, at least, accessory to a felony."

Esposito frowned, "Why don't we take one each? Whoever gets the guy can come into the woman's interview when he's done."

Ryan nodded a bit, "Yeah, sounds good. Roshambo? Loser gets the woman." A business man walking past caught the end of the conversation and did a double take, shooting Ryan a look of disgust as he hurried on by.

* * *

"So, Mr. Lopez, let me get this straight. Your girlfriend turned up at your apartment this morning with a bag full of cash, and you didn't find that at all strange?" Detective Ryan cocked his head to one side as he regarded his suspect. "You just packed a bag and headed to the airport with her?"

"No, man, we didn't go straight away… had to celebrate our good fortune, if you get what I'm saying…"

Taking a deep breath was the only thing that kept Ryan from executing an eye roll of which Beckett would be proud. "And how long did you… 'celebrate' for?"

"Uh, couple hours? Then we had to figure out how to pack the money." Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh, hey, did you get our bags off the plane? 'Cause I packed some stuff I wanna keep."

"Yes, they were removed from the airplane by airport staff," Ryan confirmed. "However, your bags and their contents are evidence in this case, so I highly doubt you'll see them or their contents for up to three years."

Jack slumped back in his chair, cuffs rattling on the table in front of him.

* * *

"Let's go over this again, Ms. Trevino. You went for a walk last night, have no idea what route you took, and ended up at your momma's house. Then you called your boyfriend before you went to sleep." Esposito looked up from his notes, glaring at the woman in front of him.

She slouched as far down in the chair as her cuffs would allow, completely at ease. "Yeah, that's about it."

Esposito got up and began to walk slowly around the room, "I'm going to tell you a story, Henrietta. It starts like this: Once upon a time, there was a guy who got fired from his job. Instead of fightin' his own corner, he figured it wasn't worth the hassle. But his girl takes it real personal on his behalf, and decides to do something about it."

He stopped just behind her and waited for her to turn to him until he carried on. "She decides that revenge is the best medicine for this particular sickness, so she heads to her boyfriend's place of work, and confronts his manager. Words are exchanged, accusations, threats. Fists. Even a decorative wall clock." Henrietta turned back to face forwards and began to stare at her hands.

Esposito sits back down and pulls an evidence bag from the folder he'd brought in with him. "We found these gloves at your mother's home. Fibers from these gloves match those found at the scene, and there's blood on them. Whose blood will that match, Henrietta?"

She continued to sit and concentrate on her hands, picking at her right thumbnail with her left.

"Yours?" Esposito prompted. "Your momma's?" He leaned in, "Jack's momma?"

Henrietta looked up at the detective. "Jack don't got a momma. His grandma raised him."

"Yes, she did. But he does have a momma… well, that is to say, he did have a momma. Until you killed her and stole her money." Henrietta's eyes widened as she stared at Esposito in disbelief.

"Now, look, I di'n't know! And I'm damn sure he don't know either, man!" She began to wave her hands, her voice rising in pitch and volume with every word. "Don't tell him, damn, don't tell him! Please! Don't tell him! Damn, this would cut him up for sure! Don't-…"

Esposito slammed his hand on the table. "That's enough!" he interrupted her ranting. "Enough already. Tell me exactly what happened in that office. Blow by blow. And when you're done, we'll see how much of your life the District Attorney thinks you'll be in jail for."

* * *

"…a full confession? That's fantastic! Thanks, Espo. Great work today, thank Ryan from me. Yeah, you too. G'night." Kate ended the call and dropped her cell phone onto the coffee table before she leaned back into Rick's embrace on the couch.

"Another case closed by New York's finest." Rick sighed with satisfaction and Kate smiled onto his shoulder. "Oh, hey, in all the excitement you didn't get to tell me how lunch went."

"Yeah, it was great," Kate lifted her head off Rick's shoulder and grinned. "Lanie is really pleased for us, and when I told her she was the first to know, she cried."

Rick made a quiet, sentimental squeaks, and squeezed Kate's shoulder. "Was she okay about being on speed-dial just in case?"

Kate nodded, "Of course, she said it would be an honor. It puts my mind at rest knowing there's another doctor I can call in case I don't think it's serious enough to call Dr. Kowalewski. Not that she'd mind, but when I'm feeling anxious about something with the baby I know I'll feel guilty about calling her." Kate laughed and shook her head. "I think I've got baby brain already, Castle."

Rick turned her to face him, "I love your baby brain," he quipped before leaving a peck on her lips.

Kate grinned, "I guess I should reward you for managing to not give away the secret in the precinct today… you had a few slips, though, Rick."

"Do I need to be punished?" He looked into her eyes with the utmost seriousness. "Nakedly?"

"'Nakedly' is not a word." She slipped out of his embrace and got up from the couch, heading for the bedroom.

Castle sat with a disgruntled pout on his face as he watched her go. "It is, too! Adverb of 'naked'! Meaning: 'having no covering', or 'without concealing anything'." As she sauntered away, hips swinging as she disappeared from his view, the pout disappeared as he realized, "Hey! You didn't answer my question!" He scrambled up from the couch, hurrying after her into the bedroom.

* * *

 _Episode beta work by honeyandvodka_

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